'He brought laughter': Reflecting on the sport's lost great a score of years on.

Everything Paul Hunter truly desired to do was compete on the baize.

A sporting bug, sparked at the age of three with the help of a tiny snooker set on his parents' coffee table in Leeds, would culminate in a pro playing days that saw him win half a dozen major wins in half a dozen years.

The present year marks a score of years since the beloved Hunter passed away from cancer, days short to his birthday marking 28 years.

But despite the loss of a generational talent that rose above the pastime he cherished, his legacy and impact on snooker and those who were close to him persist as strong as ever.

'His passion was clear': A Childhood Obsession

"It was impossible to foresee in a million years Paul would become a pro on the circuit," Hunter's mum states.

"However he just adored it."

Hunter's father recounts how his son "cared little for anything else" other than snooker as a youth.

"He was relentless," he says. "He would play every night after school."

After repeatedly pleading with his dad to take him to a community venue to play on professional-standard tables at the age of eight, the young Hunter made the leap from miniature games with great skill.

His natural ability would be coached by the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson, from the adjacent city, at a now closed venue in the north Leeds suburb of Yeadon.

Metoric Ascent: The Path to Glory

With his mother and father's requests to do his homework increasingly falling on deaf ears as training came first, his parents took the "gamble" of taking Hunter out of school at the mid-teens to fully focus on building a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent had won his first ranking title, the late-nineties Welsh championship.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of only the top competitors, Hunter triumphed on three occasions, in consecutive years.

'Paul was fun': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's approachable nature never left him.

"He had a great temperament did Paul," Alan says. "He was liked by everybody."

"If you met him you'd take to him," Kristina continues. "Paul was fun. He'd make you comfortable."

Hunter's widow Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "incredible, lively, and kind spirit" who was "witty, generous" and "never the first to depart from the party".

With his effortless appeal, boyish good looks and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his considerable talent, Hunter quickly became snooker's leading figure for the new millennium.

No wonder then, that he was nicknamed 'The Beckham of the Baize'.

A Brave Battle: Illness and Resilience

In that year, a year that should have been the zenith of his talent, Hunter was diagnosed with cancer and would later undergo cancer therapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world attest to the man's extraordinary willingness to keep promises to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter played on through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The World Championship arena when he turned out for the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's tight community lost one of its most popular brothers.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "I wouldn't wish any mum and dad to suffer such a loss."

A Lasting Impact: The Paul Hunter Foundation

Hunter's true impact would be felt not in high society but in snooker halls and clubs across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a program to help provide a positive outlet," one coach said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a major coaching programme, which has provided playing opportunities to children all over the world.

"It would have thrilled him what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.

Never Forgotten: Two Decades On

Historic matches of their son's matches via the internet help his parents stay "connected to him".

"I can bring it up and I can watch Paul at any moment," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We don't mind talking about Paul," she continues. "Initially it was painful, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be mentioned at all."

Even though he never won the World Championship, the common opinion that Hunter would have eventually won snooker's greatest prize is a part of the sport's history.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most associated, commences later this month. The winner will lift the Paul Hunter Trophy.

But for all his accomplishments, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's character, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is never forgotten.